


Shinoco's Stories

by Sigilmancy



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-07
Updated: 2020-04-01
Packaged: 2020-11-08 06:17:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 1,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20830778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sigilmancy/pseuds/Sigilmancy
Summary: Stories about a tiefling sorcerer





	1. Shine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the Weekly Pet Prompt on Subeta, prompt Shine

Shinoco stared down at her notes, sighing heavily. Exams were in a few days, and while she always loved knowledge and learning it did seem like this was just too much, too overwhelming. The pressure was immense, and she was feeling it now more than ever because the guild had put so much faith in her, she was supposed to be their star student and a shining example of someone not needing money or to be from a well known family to be powerful.

"Come on, you've got this." She murmured to herself, looking down at the spell cards again. "Chaos bolt requires verbal and somatic, no material, so I don't need my focus and can expend extra magical energy to do it without either one. Verbal means I need the command words, somatic means bodily movements." She repeated the information aloud, quietly, hoping to get it to stick better that way.

"But it is chaotic energy, one of eight types. Acid, cold, force, thunder, lightning....fire...poison...and necrotic? No, that isn't it. Should be a complimenting or opposing force to something else. Necrotic and radiant, cold and fire, poison and acid, thunder and lightning, force and.....psychic. Ten types of spell damage, chaos bolt only deals eight so no necrotic or radiant, the last type has to be psychic damage." Shinoco took a deep breath, trying to steady herself. "On top of that the spell can leap from one target to another, randomly, and has a small chance to continue doing so...." Those words made her slightly afraid, that part of the spell half-forgotten in the midst of so much other information she had to absorb so quickly. Maybe this wasn't the right spell for the exam, because while it hadn't yet in any of her practice sessions it could bounce from the practice dummy to one of the teachers or worse.

Thoughts of switching to a cantrip crossed her mind, but she knew that wasn't possible. Cantrips were entry level magic, something she'd already mastered with ease, and she needed something more powerful to impress the teachers and prove she was worth keeping on at the guild. There were a few others she could try, but they wouldn't be as practiced or as fluid as her chaos bolt and she needed to be perfect.

"That is a chance I will have to take, then, and pray it does not do anything too....chaotic." The thought of it at least made her smile, though that was quickly washed away by the itching in her arm that she went to idly scratch before remembering what it was; the scales that had begun to grow out of her skin when she used her magic. They were spreading, and some seemed to disappear if she went stretches without any actual use of her powers. A curiosity, their shimmering darkness standing out against her lilac skin, but not something she could afford to do anything about right now. Maybe once she had more power, more influence, she could begin to study the phenomena in earnest but until then she just had to focus on her studies and on proving herself so she could stay with the guild and keep having access to their knowledge.


	2. Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A polished version of a prompt for my in-person writing group a few weeks ago about how time is constant and everything else is flexible.

Magic, as Shinoco had learned, could manipulate anything if there was sufficient power behind it. She could create fire and any other element she desired from nothing, transform living creatures into inanimate objects or vice versa, animate the dead, and even completely alter the memories of a living subject all with nothing more than the manipulation of magical energies in the proper way.

But time - time was the one constant.

How many nights had she stayed up so late, lost sleep over trying to figure out how to manipulate time? Reading old scrolls in the archives, going over the accounts of other mages who had tried in the past to alter the flow of time. To stop it, or speed it up, or reverse it, only to end in failure and in some cases even death.

Perhaps selfishly, Shinoco did all of this only for herself and whatever she uncovered she had no intention of sharing. That knowledge would be extremely dangerous, especially if put into the hands of those who would use it for themselves instead of the benefit of others and she knew there were plenty of those people in the world, most of them in positions of power where the potential for irresponsible use was even greater. No, she chased the seemingly impossible for one reason and one reason only - to stop the spread of the draconic scales that were slowly creeping along her skin. Every time she used her magic they grew, and if she abstained they seemed to recede just a little but they never fully went away. To her they were ugly, pitch black marks that marred her otherwise perfectly smooth lavender skin and spoke to a draconic heritage somewhere in her past. It wasn't as constant as that of a dragonborn, and was perhaps to some extent drowned out by her tiefling heritage as well, but it was there and that was dangerous. What little research she had managed to uncover about those like herself in the early stages of trying to understand exactly what was happening were not stories she wanted to hear; they ended in those sorcerers going mad as the scales encompassed their entire bodies. Once sane, well respected individuals were driven to become feral beasts, attacking their friends and family before someone finally killed them.

That was not what Shinoco wanted to become. She could not completely stop using magic, and even if she did there was no guarantee that would stop the scales forever. Her only hope was to find some way to stop time, at least for that part of herself. Easier said than done, as it turned out, but it was really all she had left in terms of ideas so it was all she could do. Well that and pray to whatever deity was listening for guidance, luck, and perhaps ironically more time.


	3. Hazelnut

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Written for the 4th prompt in the 100 Flavors Challenge, Hazelnut

"Studying late again, I see?" One of the librarians asked as they passed the familiar corner desk, staring at the lavender skinned tiefling sitting there with her tail swishing in an irritated manner.

"When don't I?" Shinoco replied, trying not to snap and sound as frazzled as she actually was at the moment.

"True." The librarian shrugged, moving on with the stack of books in his arms to put them back where they belonged. He came back a few minutes later, however, holding a chilled bowl with some kind of dark, thick substance in it along with a spoon.

"What is that?" Shinoco rolled her eyes, not liking that she'd been interrupted with whatever he was trying to give her.

"Food. You've been here all night and I haven't seen you eat anything. Really you should go get some protein, probably meat, but I know you won't so here's something with a bit of sugar in it to help keep you going. And some water, so you don't get dehydrated." He pointedly put a glass down on the desk as well, a little cloth under it and the bowl to absorb the condensation and not leave rings on the wood.

"Oh...Thank you. Has it really been that long?" She blinked, looking outside at the world that was slowly starting to wake with the first rays of the distant sun.

"Yes. Eat, I'll come back for the plates." He gave the tiefling woman a gentle smile before wandering off.

Only once he was out of sight did Shinoco sit back with a heavy sigh, staring up at the ceiling before looking at the bowl. It smelled good enough, and it was nice and cold to combat the stifling heat of the summer where the guild hall had decided to move itself for a little while. She eventually picked it up, taking an experimental spoonful. Whatever it was it was thick but not unpleasantly so, more like a yogurt than anything, and it tasted sweet. Chocolate and hazelnut, she realized after a moment, with some kind of binding agent to give it the texture. Either way it was good, so she finished it before downing the glass of water and getting up to stretch.

Papers and books were slowly organized to make it easier for the poor librarians to put it back where it belonged, and Shinoco packed up her things before slipping out quietly as others began to come in for early morning studies to be in the library all day. They would be noisy and full of chatter instead, though, and she was better off continuing her studies in her own room for the time being.


	4. Scattered Papers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For the Weekly Pet Prompt on Subeta, prompt Scattered Papers

Shinoco had always naturally been a night owl, feeling more energized and inspired by the night. Maybe it was the lack of people around to disturb her as most were asleep or involved in their own business, maybe it was her infernal heritage or the black dragon in her...That thought made her look at her arm for a moment, lips curling into a slight snarl at the little patch of scales that had sprung up there. Ever since her magical powers were being properly trained and utilized they'd started to show, something her mentor explained as being completely natural; most sorcerers got their power from bloodlines, marking them as different from the warlocks who made pacts with powerful entities for theirs or wizards who spent years and years studying to enhance what natural capability came to all humanoids willing to put in the work. The scales marked her draconic ancestry, meaning somewhere one of her ancestors was a dragon and then a half dragon and so on down the line to her and as diluted as the blood was it still existed in her and that was the source of her powers. But it was worrying that the bits of black scales seemed to be popping up more nad more, which brought the tiefling back to her original purpose for being in the library so late.

Researching her own family history was relatively useless, her parents had been peasants before she was brought in by the guild and while she heard some stories about her grandparents and even great-grandparents she knew them by relation and not by name and no one would have been keeping track. So instead she sat in the darkness, letting her natural sort of night vision eliminate her need for light and detection in case anyone else came wandering in while she was trying to unravel the mystery.

Books and papers were piled and scattered on the desk and table of the little room she was using. A private sort of back room for quiet studying during the day when the library was more active and perfect at night for staying out of the main of the library. Earlier Shinoco had rounded up everything she could find on dragons, sorcery, and draconic ancestry in humanoids, trying to quell anxiety fueled by the ever growing scales on her body. Was it something that could be reversed? It seemed like every time she used her magic they grew, so was it simply a matter of abstaining from magic use for a time until they retracted? Was it dangerous to allow them to keep spreading for her health or her magic or any other factors?

There were too many questions and not nearly enough answers. So she went back to her scattered research and started to comb through it, hoping to find something somewhere in the accounts of sorcerers past and the dragons she shared blood with.


End file.
